VIVA VINO LOS ANGELES

Come by and taste all my Italian wines this Wednesday.  It should be fun.

GRAND TASTING

Join us for the second annual VIVA VINO LA and discover the traditional varietals of Italy.  An incredible opportunity to get acquainted with the wines, wineries and winemakers that make Italy the #1 exported wine country in the world. Taste over 100 wines from Italy, enjoy the regional food and mingle with Italians!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

6:30-9:00pm

Tickets: $60

The Mark for Events
9320 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035

(Valet Parking Available for $8)

http://vvlagrandtasting.eventbrite.com/

Verona by night . . .

Found some pictures of Verona I took in April while wandering around the city at night.  After downloading them from the camera, I just forgot I had them and moved on but I looked again and found something in them that I had passed by when immediately home from my trip.  I love cities, especially medieval cities, at night; there is a stillness to them and silence to them you don't find in modern cities.

 I stopped at this square and then realized that underneath all the arches were homeless people sleeping.

Crossing the bridge and looking towards the Ponte Pietra . . . 

 And moving the camera a little too much . . . but I like it . . .

 

San Polino Historic records . . . from 1581

In 1581, the farmstead of San Polino was registered as one of the properties belonging to the Montalcino Hospital “Santa Maria della Croce” and it is here that we find the first explicit mention of the vineyard: 

“…the farmstead of San Polino , with its house, its worked fields and woodlands, has a vineyard and there are on this farmstead six olive trees…..”

 “Idem possiede in detta Corte il Podere di Santo Polino co’ sua Casa, co’ terreni lavorativi e machiosi, ha la vignia e vi sono in detto podere sei piedi di olivo...”

The medieval hospital functioned as a charitable institution which provided for pilgrims and gave assistance to the poor. It owned 30 farmsteads, houses and shops in the town, mills, olive presses, a furnace where bricks, vases and calcina were made.

From the 18th century ownership of San Polino changed hands when the noble Piccolomini family from Siena took possession of the farmhouse and its lands.

In 1991 the farmstead was bought by its present owners, Luigi and Katia, who renovated it and planted the new vineyards in 1998.

The six olive trees mentioned in the hospital registers in 1581 are still producing olives.

From a Southbay magazine article on the perfect outdoor brunch menu . .

Southbay Magazine

Food and wine editor Bonnie Graves teams with

renowned Chef David LeFevre of Manhattan Beach

Post and his good friend, Chef Giuseppe Tentori,

for the perfect South Bay brunch and wine pairing,

hosted in the beautiful outdoor entertaining space

of a private Manhattan Beach home.

THE WINE LIST

Moscato d’Asti, Varja

(Piedmont, Italy—2010) $22

Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Cirelli

(Abruzzo, Italy—2010) $15

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Cirelli

(Abruzzo, Italy—2009) $16

Sant’Antimo Sangiovese, San Polino

(Montalcino, Italy—2009) $22

"In keeping with our theme and in homage to Giuseppe’s roots, we poured some amazing artisanal Italian wines pulled from the portfolio of boutique importer Rinascimento Wine Company. Owner Justin Gallen excels in sourcing small-lot wines that are often made by the farmers who grow the grapes. Standouts from our lunch were the wines from Cirelli, made with organically grown fruit from the Abruzzo region of Italy. The refreshing acidity of the 2010 Trebbiano, a widely planted white in the area, and the easy-drinking red fruit profile of the 2009 Montepulciano, epitomize how Italians view wine—as a condiment to good food and a conduit to good friends. We had plenty of both at our festive lunch." - Bonnie Graves

THE MENU

FIRST COURSE

Sticky buns with pecans and brown sugar

Bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits with maple butter

Belly button bagel, poppyseed,

cream cheese and strawberry jelly

SECOND COURSE

Beet arancini with shaved fennel,

arugula and Winter Perigord truffles

Turkey sausage patty with sage, cavolo nero and maple

Nueske’s bacon with rosemary, brown sugar and chili

THIRD COURSE

Benedict on a bacon cheddar biscuit with arugula,

La Quercia prosciutto and hollandaise

Chimichanga of scrambled egg, chorizo spiced pork,

pepper jack cheese, yam and Jimmy’s mom’s salsa verde

Blueberry lemon skillet cake

with Noble Tonic No. 1 vanilla maple syrup

FOURTH COURSE

Nante carrot cake with cream cheese icing,

candied walnut and pickled carrot

Polito Farms citrus salad of ruby grapefruit,

blood orange, tangelo and pomegranate

G.D. Vajra in the Wine Spectator latest edition . . .

 For the savvy shopper, really, the only choice is the 2007 Barolo Albe from G.D. Vajra

And for you bargain hunters, the Langhe Nebbiolo 2009 could come in handy, too.

Top Value!  Value is always relative.  If it comes with a screw top and is in a gallon jug, it is a "Top Value" to some.  That is not this wine.  

Lou on Vine closing . . .

In my now many years in the wine business I have come to know many things.  First, all good things must end at some point.  Second, the nicest guys don't always finish first.  Third, that my favorite people in the business are usually the ones who do the least amount of business with me and have the toughest time making it work.

That is the way it has been with Lou and before that with Hayes and Vine in San Francisco and so many others.  The little guys who want real wine.  The little guys who want you to drink real wine.  The little guys who would like to buy more from you but it is usually better that they don't so they don't get too far behind on their payments.

But these are the guys you hang with at the tastings and rip on the big guys and their industrial wines.  These places, like Lou, is where you go to hang out with your friends (if you don't have twins and never leave the house again after 6 pm!).  These are the places where every time you belly up to the bar, you are treated like a member of the family and it just feels like home.

Lou and I go back before he opened the wine bar when we were in a tasting group together and his dream of a wine bar was still just that, a dream. He made his dream happen and for that I salute him.

I am going to miss Lou on Vine, even though I didn't get there enough in recent times.  I am going to miss it for being the beacon the guided a small subset of wine lovers here in L.A.  I am going to miss the idea of having a cool place to go with my wife where I don't need to put on my game face.  I am going to miss getting hugged by Lou and him saying, "Hey man, long time no see!"

For the uninitiated, pulling back the curtain at the entrance of Lou and feeling the heat and noise spill out into the night air had a special feeling.  A feeling of going back in time to a speakeasy or private club.  And now my private club is closing.

I truly hope that when Lou talks about a second act, that this act will begin soon and be exactly what he dreamed it to be.

Chapeau!

Drink of the Week Profile - Part 1

skyler-brown  Wednesday, February 15, 2012
http://www.drinkoftheweek.com/2012/02/visit-the-hills-of-abruzzo-italy-without-leaving-home-part-1/

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Justin Gallen, an Italian importer and one of his producers, Francesco Cirelli, a winemaker from the eastern Italian region of Abruzzo. In the first part of this interview series, Gallen discusses his passion for wine and the qualities it must possess before he brings it to the United States.

Drink of the Week (DOTW): You’re a sommelier and Italian importer of fine wines. How did this all come about and have you always had a passion for wine?
Justin Gallen (JG): I’ve been in the wine business for about 20 years. I was the kid who wasn’t interested in getting beer. I always wanted a gallon of Burgundy or Bartles & Jaymes or wine coolers or whatever else it happened to be. I’ve always been fascinated by wine.

DOTW: How do you find your producers?
JG:  I’lI go to the organic and biodynamic fairs that take place in Italy a couple times a year and meet the producer and taste their wine. I met Francesco by chance. He was given a list of importers and sent out a blind email with his contact information and website. The website looked professional and the wines looked good. When we met, I tasted the wines, looked at the package, and said “yes,” right away.

DOTW: What do you look for in a wine?
JG: The wine has to be very, very good and at a really good price point. I’m looking for wines that are food-friendly. Wines that have a little less alcohol and a little more acidity, so that it pairs well with a different range of food and won’t overwhelm. I’m also looking for wines that will age well, because it’s important to drink wine at many different times of its life. In its youth, when it’s got a lot of fruit and it’s beautiful and exciting and vibrant, and then at its middle-age, when it’s gained a little bit of sophistication and it’s turned into something a little bit more interesting, and of course, in its older age, when it’s gained a sort of delicacy and wisdom for a wine that you won’t find in a wine that’s youthful.

DOTW: You chose the word renascimento for the name of your business. Why?
JG: Renascimento means renaissance in Italian. It represents the rebirth and revival of the types of wines I would like to find in the market. Hopefully the wines that I’m importing are providing a rebirth or revival or renascimento for the people who taste them, so they discover a new world of wine that they never knew they had.

Visit Rinascimento Wine Company.
Visit Cirelli to learn more about their wine and other products.